Have you spent a lot of money on advertising with the expectation that you would get many sales from the 1000s of web site visitors that read your ad?

Have you poured money into driving traffic to your web site, only to have no one buying your product?

Maybe you have seen the ads, "Get 10,000 visitors to your site, for only $20" . Wow, you think, that's a great bargain, I'll go for it. The result ? 10 people visiting your site and no one buying. What's the problem? You have not effectively targeted your customers. Your field of customers is too large. Most of them are not interested in your product. You need to zero in on the person that wants, needs and thirsts for your product.

How do I find my targeted customers?

1. Place yourself in your customers shoes. There's an Indian saying that goes something like:

"You must walk a mile in my shoes, before you can understand me".

For example, if I am selling a weight loss product, I would not be targeting skinny people, but targeting those that are overweight.

2. Make a thumb nail sketch of this person

Who is your customer?

What are her wants, needs and desires?

Try to understand how they think. Understanding what problems they have, will give you a clearer idea of what

to offer them.

For example, let's make a sketch of a typical overweight person:

30-50 years old
Out of shape
Probably married with children
Under a lot of pressure, tight for time, stressed
Looking for ways to improve health and wealth
Lack of self esteem

3. Develop a product that addresses one or more of their needs. Always refer back to your thumbnail sketch as you write for your site. Elaborate on the points that fit your product and what it delivers. As you start writing, new ideas will naturally emerge, but always keep them focused on your targeted customer so you won't go off the track of what your customer wants.

Based on the profile I outlined above, you may sell them products that help them lose weight, improve their health, look good, spend more time with their children and get wealthy.

4. Write your copy to sell - when you write the copy for your site, always stress the benefits. Develop a theme for your site that focuses on this benefit and don't stray from it. for more indepth information on this topic, read my article:

"How to Get Listed in the Search Engines ? Developing a Theme-Based Site"
(www.isitebuild.com/searchengine.htm)

5. Make sure each page sells. - each page should emphasize the benefits in the headline, to pull the reader into the contents of your page. It should ask the question:

What's in it for me?

Why should I spend my precious time reading this page?

6. Write as if you were talking to your friend - your copy should be conversational, friendly and personal, as if you are sitting next to the person. Write from the viewpoint of what your customer wants to buy, not what you want to sell.

7. Deliver the contents in a clear, crisp way - be careful not to stray from the central purpose of what you promised in the headline. Make sure your customer wants to click through to the next page or your order page. Don't be afraid of clearly stating the price of your product.

Clearly identifying your customers and writing copy tailored to solving your customers problems, places them in a buying mood. Converting these visitors into buyers should now increase the amount of sales from your web site.

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com Affordable Web Site Design and Web Hosting. Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original articles - mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com - Read more of his in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles